Architect 2014-02.pdf

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J Now 35 Future 37 Feature 38 PersPective 40
february 2014
PHOTO: dana HOff
AIAvoices
DESIGNING TO STAY |
THE LOCAL SIDE OF “GLOCAL”
Anthony Abbate, AIA, is an architect based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and
the associate provost at Florida Atlantic University. Over the last 10 years,
he has been central in encouraging research into how climate change
affects subtropical cities, where roughly half the world’s population lives.
Abbate has branded the problem that subtropical cities face not as a design
issue (although design can mitigate some of the environmental devastation
that rising water levels and temperatures incur), but as a professional
issue for architects. Architects must, Abbate argues, collaborate more
effectively with policymakers, biologists, planners, and engineers if some
of the largest population centers in the world are going to survive the
21st century.
In all of the dIscussIon about clImate change, I thInk
we need to keep in mind that subtropical cities are not just about
climate. They have to do with existing networks and communities
as well as migrations in and out of larger regions, like the Sunbelt in
the United States, which is a relatively new frontier that has rapidly
urbanized. And that’s the starting point for a conversation about
sea-level rise.
To me, all of this has to do with developing a design perspective.
Look beyond Vitruvius and there are very deep wells of local
knowledge in cities and towns about how to build. It’s easy to talk
in abstractions about changes in our environment that have a global
impact, but the real work has to do with interpreting localized
knowledge. I think the term “glocal” is clever, but I believe we need
to emphasize the local half of that.
What I’m trying to do with my colleagues in Australia is to think
laterally. Sure, there are a lot of successful knowledge-sharing
partnerships longitudinally—say, between a North American school
and a South American school, or a New York–based firm and a São
Paulo–based architect. But we have to develop partnerships along
the subtropical band of cities where a lot of people live and work.
My personal optimism aside, the reality is: Unless the decisionmakers
and leaders in our society convert their thoughts into actions
in the next five years—policy, code legislation, and so forth—we
will need to seriously design for retreat from the coasts. To a certain
extent, we can predict what will happen if no action is taken, but
it’s harder to see how things can improve with piecemeal, scattered,
and uneven investment and change. We no longer have the luxury
of time, and so a concerted, focused, multilateral investment is
needed. And I believe that architects should—as designers and
as informed citizens—lead this discussion, think creatively
and realistically, and be at the table with policymakers.
—As told to William Richards aia